The World Bank report: The Global Findex Database 2021 He pointed out that in the Latin American and Caribbean region, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela are the countries with the largest adult banking population.
According to a review of the Banca y Negocios news portal on the World Bank report, which was financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the three South American countries lead the list of Latin America and the Caribbean, where 73% of adults had accounts in financial institutions of some kind in 2021. In the first place, Chile is the country with the highest banking penetration indicator in the region with 87%, Venezuela and Brazil share second place with 84%, followed by Uruguay with 74%, Jamaica with 73%, Argentina (72%) , Bolivia (69%), and Paraguay (54%).
David Malpass, President of the World Bank, The digital revolution has catalyzed increases in access to and use of financial services around the world. In this sense, Malpass explained that this situation has meant a transformation in the ways in which people make and receive payments, make loans and save.
COVID-19 Effects: Acceleration of digital payments
In this sense, the World Bank highlighted the “key role” of digital payments globally, especially after the arrival of COVID-19, when within developing economies, 18% of adults paid utility bills
public directly from an account, with about a third of those adults doing so for the first time after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The share of adults making digital payments to retailers also increased after the COVID-19 outbreak”the report stated.
In the region, according to the Banking and Business review, 40% of adults made digital payments to retailers, including 14% of adults who made such transactions for the first time during the pandemic.
Likewise, it should be noted that the proportion of adults who saved in a bank account would also have increased, from 12% to 19% of adults in 2017. However, there would still be room to expand the use of accounts in the region where 81 million of banked adults made cash-only utility payments, including 32 million in Brazil and 5 million in Peru.
Lastly, it should be noted thathe list of countries surveyed in 2021 for the report includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
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